Compartmental adapters for golf bags

ABSTRACT

There is disclosed compartmental adapters for golf bags which are longitudinal, tubular members comprising a frame member and a cover member. The composite structure is inserted into or associated with a golf bag and serves to divide the golf bag into at least two volumetric sections, each one of which are adapted to accommodate a plurality of golf clubs.

United States Patent [1 1 Cristelli COMPARTMENTAL ADAPTERS FOR GOLF BAGS [76] I tor; Joseph Cristelli, 85 Ruckman Rd.,

Hillsdale, NJ. 07642 [22] Filed: Sept. 5, 1972 [21] App]. No.: 286,212

[52] US. Cl 150/].5R [51] Int. Cl A63b 55/00 [58] Field of Search 150/15 R, 1.5 B, 1.5 C

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,546,416 3/1951 Alter ISO/1.5 R

2,879,819 3/1952 Turnhull ISO/1.5 R 3,101,108 8/1963 lngoldt ISO/1.5 R 3,139,132 6/1964 Shiller ISO/1.5 R

Primary Examiner-Donald F. Norton Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Arthur L. Plevy 5 7] ABSTRACT There is disclosed compartmental adapters for golf bags which are longitudinal, tubular members comprising a frame member and a cover member. The composite structure is inserted into or associated with a golf bag and serves to divide the golf bag into at least two volumetric sections, each one of which are adapted to accommodate a plurality of golf clubs.

10 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures COMPARTMENTAL ADAPTERS FOR GOLF BAGS BACKGROUND OF INVENTION This invention relates to adapters for golf bags and more particularly to inserts for such golf bags which partition the bag into separate compartments.

The prior art includes a plurality of golf bag adapters which are used to provide individual golf club passageways or compartments. Such structures are directed to facilitate the orderly arrangement of the clubs within the bag.

Basically, the prior art contemplates a number of different solutions to this general problem;

Certain patents disclose a golf bag or an adapter which serves to provide a separate container means or compartments forv each club. These may comprise rigid tubular guideways within the golf bag, each one of which is to accommodate a club. Examples of such apparatus can be had by reference to US. Pat. No. 2,860,679 entitled RACK INSERT FOR GOLF BAGS by L. L. Kouke issued on Nov. 18, I958. This apparatus suffers in that the tubes are withdrawn with club removal. The sides of the tubes provide wearing of the club handles and so on.

There has been a number of attempts to alleviate these problems as evidenced by US. Pat. No. 3,101,108 entitled TUBE RETAINER by R. C. Ingoldt issued on Aug. 20, 1963.

In any event, the use of such tubes has not been widely accepted by the golfing public. A major disadvantage of tube inserts is due to the length of the golf club. This requires that the golfer withdraw the club from the insert in a substantially vertical plane. Otherwise, the surface of the club rubs up against the side wall of the insert. The provision of the inserts, in genera], as individual compartments for each club is expensive to manufacture and generally difficult to incorporate in a golf bag.

It is therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an improved partition or compartment arrangement for use with golf bags while providing the easy removal of golf clubs therefrom.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Apparatus for use with a golf bag to separate the internal volume of said bag into at least two distinct volumetric areas comprising: a longitudinal, cylindrical frame member having a cross-section relatively congruent with a cross-section of said bag, as defined by the area enclosed between a rod-like separation associated with a golf bag and the periphery of said bag at an open end, said frame member having an opened top end and a closed bottom end and a cover member adapted to cover the major outside surface of said frame member without covering the bottom or top ends thereof, to form a composite insert member, which when inserted into said bag, serves to divide said internal volume into at least two distinct volumetric portions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view of a golf bag having a typical and general appearance.

FIG. 2 is a top view of the golf bag of FIG. 1 showing the compartment arrangement according to this inventron.

FIG. 3 is a series of plane views showing the structure of the compartment according to this invention in greater detail.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION DRAWINGS As is well known, golf bags come in a great variety of shapes and configurations. Basically, such golf bags may include different pocket arrangements for holding different golfing aids, and therefore there is really no typical or general golf bag. However, the greater majority of golf bags possess certain common features.

Referring to FIG. 1 there is shown a typical enough golf bag 10. The golf bag 10 has at the opened end thereof at least two transverse rod-like members 11. Basically, the open end of a golf bag is generally of an oval configuration. The manufacturers of such bags normally include rod-like members 11 positioned near the opened top end of the bag. The rod-like members serve to divide the bag in a manner such that the golfer may insert, for example, woods in one section, irons in another section and so on. In any event, the members 11, while dividing the bag, do not extend any substantial distance within the hollow confines of the golf bag 10. Accordingly, the internal volume or hollow confines of the golf bag is basically undivided. Therefore, in such a conventional bag the handles of the clubs can be maintained at various angles within the internal vol- 'ume of this golf bag. In this manner, as is known in the prior art, the golf clubs can easily become entangled; while the shorter clubs will also have the tendency to be hidden by the larger clubs. These characteristics, in

general, tend to cause the golfer loss of time in finding a club and difficulty in withdrawing clubs. This, of course, is one of the disadvantages which the abovenoted prior art attempts to circumvent.

Referring to FIG. 2 the golf bag 10 is partitioned by means of individual golf club retaining compartments designated as 12, 13 and 14. These compartments are adapted to fit within the bag and basically serve to divide the internal volume of the bag into at least two or three distinct volumes. In this manner, a golfer can insert, as is shown in FIG. 1, woods in one compartment, irons in another compartment and so on.

These compartments 12 to 14 serve to eliminate the above-noted problem as the golfer using this apparatus determines which compartment the clubs will be inserted into. In this manner, he can maintain theclubs in an orderly fashion without experiencing any of the difficulties of the tubular inserts of the prior art.

Referring to FIG. 3 there is shown three types of compartments according to this invention. As indicated above, the open end of a golf bag is generally oval in shape. The golf bag has the rod-like members 11 across the top opening. A first compartment 20 comprising a longitudinal, tubular member 21 may be fabricated from a light material as aluminum or plastic. The member 21 has a semicircular cross-section and if solely inserted into a golf bag, it can serve to divide the golf bag into two sections. Also part of the insert assembly is a cover member 22 which may be fabricated from a heavy cloth material or a cloth-like plastic material. The cover member 22 is inserted over the frame member 21 and has a fastener member 23 secured to the back thereof, which member serves to co-act with the rod-like member 11 of FIG. 1 to hold the compartment in place.

Also shown secured to the cover member 22 is a flaptop portion 24 which is of such a size and shape to enable the golfer to cover the clubs in transport or inclement weather. The flap 24 includes a suitable fastener 25 which may be a snap-type fastener to co-act with a suitable counterpart 26 mounted on the cover member 22.

A central member 28, which is generally rectangular in configuration, is adapted for insertion between the rod-like members 11 or in the central area of the bag. It is, of course, noted that the member 28 is adapted to be inserted between the rod-like members 11 to define an enclosed central volume for the golf bag 10. The rectangular member also comprises a bottom rigid member 29 and a top plyable member 27. It is seen that the central member 28, when solely inserted into the golf bag, automatically serves to divide the bag into three areas each containing three separate volumes. Therefore, a golfer may utilize only the rectangular member 28 to provide separation within his golf bag. The rectangular member 28 may include a bolt at the bottom surface which will engage the bottom of the golf bag and serve to retain the same firmly when inserted.

There is also shown on the right of FIG. 3 a third member which differs only from member in that instead of having a solid surfaced frame member, it has a frame member 30 which comprises a series of ribs fabricated in a manner to form the general outline configuration. The utilization of aluminum struts and ribs or plastic would provide a still lighter assembly which would therefore serve not to effect the overall weight of the golf bag to any great extent. The frame member 30 is similarly covered by a cover member 31 which is relatively identical to the cover member 22 previously described.

In summation, there is disclosed apparatus for dividing a golf bag into a plurality of club accommodating volumes, each volume capable of accommodating a plurality of clubs, which, plurality is less than the total number of clubs needed to participate in a game of golf.

The compartments are longitudinal, tubular, cylindrical members which include cover members and which serve to enable the golfer to maintain a desired separation of clubs while permitting easy insertion and withdrawal of clubs from his bag. The compartment members are easy to fabricate and can be utilized with virtually a great number of golf bags as are typically available. The apparatus serves to provide the above advantages without substantially effecting the weight of the golf bag and further includes flap members to protect the clubs during transport and so on.

I claim:

1. In a golf bag having a predefined internal volume for accommodating golf clubs and of the type having an opened top end for inserting said golf clubs and a closed bottom end, said opened top end including at least one rod-like separator thereacross, the combination therewith of apparatus for fully dividing the club containing volume of said bag into a plurality of compartments comprising:

a. a longitudinal, cylindrical frame member having a cross-section relatively congruent with the crosssection of said bag as defined by the area enclosed between the periphery of said bag and said rod-like separator, said frame member having an open top end and a closed bottom end, and

b. a cover member adapted to cover the major outside surface of said frame member to thereby form a composite member therewith, such that when said composite member is inserted into said golf bag, said internal volume is divided into at least two distinct volumetric areas each of which is capable of accommodating a plurality of clubs less than the total necessary to participate in the sport of golf.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said frame member is fabricated from aluminum.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said cover member further includes a flap located on end of said cover member corresponding to the opened top end of said cover member to cover the same.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said frame member is fabricated from a series of interconnected struts to form said longitudinal, cylindrical member.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said frame member is of a rectangular cross-sectional configuration.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said frame member is of a semicircular cross-sectional configuration.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said cover member includes a projecting arm located on the surface thereof and adapted to co-act with said rod-like member when said composite member is inserted into said golf bag to maintain the position of said composite member in said bag.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said cover member is fabricated from a heavy cloth material.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8 wherein said heavy cloth material is a plastic.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said frame member is fabricated from plastic. 

1. In a golf bag having a predefined internal volume for accommodating golf clubs and of the type having an opened top end for inserting said golf clubs and a closed bottom end, said opened top end including at least one rod-like separator thereacross, the combination therewith of apparatus for fully dividing the club containing volume of said bag into a plurality of compartments comprising: a. a longitudinal, cylindrical frame member having a crosssection relatively congruent with the cross-section of said bag as defined by the area enclosed between the periphery of said bag and said rod-like separator, said frame member having an open top end and a closed bottom end, and b. a cover member adapted to cover the major outside surface of said frame member to thereby form a composite member therewith, such that when said composite member is inserted into said golf bag, said internal volume is divided into at least two distinct volumetric areas each of which is capable of accommodating a plurality of clubs less than the total necessary to participate in the sport of golf.
 2. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said frame member is fabricated from aluminum.
 3. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said cover member further includes a flap located on end of said cover member corresponding to the opened top end of said cover member to cover the same.
 4. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said frame member is fabricated from a series of interconnected struts to form said longitudinal, cylindrical member.
 5. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said frame member is of a rectangular cross-sectional configuration.
 6. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said frame member is of a semicircular cross-sectional configuration.
 7. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said cover member includes a projecting arm located on the surface thereof and adapted to co-act with said rod-like member when said composite member is inserted into said golf bag to maintain the position of said composite member in said bag.
 8. The apparatus accorDing to claim 1 wherein said cover member is fabricated from a heavy cloth material.
 9. The apparatus according to claim 8 wherein said heavy cloth material is a plastic.
 10. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said frame member is fabricated from plastic. 